Question: When new people join our group, we have a problem of communicating and connecting with them because we already feel different …

Answer: I understand. There is nothing to be done. Newcomers will gradually get closer to you. Do some work together, invite them to various events; it will gradually pass. Only if the group reaches a critical mass, will there not be much difference and newcomers will enter it easily. The group will not feel that it has been joined by additional new people. To do this, it should create a serious critical mass, for example, twenty permanent members of the group. And when it gradually includes newcomers, it won’t be felt much: the new ones can easily hide and the old ones can easily overlook them.[92512]From the Georgia Convention 11/06/12, Lesson 2

What is love of friends? I don’t love any of them. Naturally, I want to dominate all of them so that they will serve me and do what I want. What do I need them for? It would be better if they didn’t exist.

This is the “normal” attitude to others. Love of friends means that it doesn’t matter what their attributes, mental, and physical problems or their successes are; what’s important is only their points in the heart. It is these points that I love, and I don’t have to love all the rest.

On the whole even a person’s gender doesn’t matter; we must abandon and draw away from external appearances as much as possible. Then all the other factors suddenly begin to complement one another.

Because we don’t complement one another in the points in the heart, we connect them and there we agree. The moment we connect the points in the heart, suddenly all our typical attributes, which are totally different, begin to connect like gears. This is how two discs in the car’s clutch system cling to one another and the whole mechanism begins to spin in synchronization. If we connect the points in the heart and ascend above all the other attributes, ignoring them, we can connect. How does this happen? I love and respect the friend’s yearning for unity and his yearning for the Creator. I think that he is better than me in that and that he is higher than me and yearns for that more than I do. Thus I see my friends as the “greatest in our generation.” If I raise the friend’s value according to the main thing, ignoring his corporeal attributes, I get closer to him and “place” myself below him. This is how we connect.

“Love of friends” is the connection into one whole, in their points of connection. “Each one shall help his friend” in that. I can provide different services for my friends in the group and help them solve corporeal problems, but only if we are truly parts of one group trying to connect our points. The wisdom of Kabbalah is very strict about simple mutual help. Why? Since it demands a person’s intention! Here I have to clarify things deeply and accurately to myself; what am I doing this for? It isn’t because I feel sorry or uneasy about something, etc. I bring myself to another state—that I do something because by that we reach unity and only for that reason.[92454]From the Georgia Convention 11/06/12, Lesson 2

Question: We know that we are all egoists. We were led to the group by the awareness that we cannot live like this. However, we still do not have an understanding of the goal; there is no course; we are like the blind. How can blind people show the road to each other?

Answer: A person advances according to his desires. When I really want, I move forward. If I feel good in the current moment, I do not move, but remain there. If it is good there, then I will sit there, thinking about nothing else: I will have no thoughts, no movement—nothing. As soon as I feel bad, then there is movement from bad to better. This is the only way I advance.

If we are in a group, learn, and make some actions, we think that this is enough; we have no inclination to move forward; every day is the same routine, everything is the same. How can we force ourselves to move forward?

Of course, if, God forbid, misfortunes fall on us or the world, it shakes us. And what if they do not? Then, I need to create them on purpose, artificially, otherwise I will not move forward.

Creating problems artificially? Yes!

It is better to create them yourself then if they come from somewhere above. There is nowhere to escape, we need to move forward; only if I bring about this discomfort, these desires in myself, then it will be better for me. I will do this with others purposefully. I gather people and tell them: “Why do we wait for the next hurricane, crisis, or tsunami? Why do they come? To move us from point A to point B. Let’s do something ourselves that will force us to move from point A to point B.”

We have to invent something so that point B pulls us from point A and do something in point A so that it pushes us towards point B, that is, so that we feel bad now and good in the future, so it seems to us. Let’s figure out how to do this, then we will move forward, and we will not need various negative forces that push us.

How can we do this? It is said that “a friend should help a friend.” They help each other by constantly telling how wonderful the next state is and how unbearable the current state is. If so, I convince myself, and if my friends say that all the time and I become convinced of this, then I do not need any negative forces; I will rush forward myself instead of waiting for something to happen or not happen to me.

Envy is the most powerful tool; it is good for moving forward. We need to use properties such as envy, jealousy, and so on.[92507]From the Georgia Convention 11/06/12, Lesson 2

Question: Our group has existed for three years. Before, people would enter and leave the group until the group finally formed. Now we are at a point where there’s no longer an inflow of new strength. Can the reason for this be that we are so used to each other, we sense and feel each other like members of one family and we feel so good together that we don’t want to let anyone else in?

Answer: This can happen. I’m not entirely familiar with the situation to give you an answer. But everything has its time, so don’t worry. You should use this time to study more and to strengthen yourselves. I don’t think that now is the time to conduct wide dissemination. As far as I feel, the situation here is still quite lethargic. It’s best to wait. For the time being you should work on improving your connection with us, try to work more on the materials, translate books, and adapt the material for the local population. Maybe you’ll be able to write articles on the Internet or in small newspapers. Maybe you’ll be able to adapt them for your local population. I don’t think that many people will be joining you right now. After all, a point in the heart becomes revealed only when a person has reached a certain level of egoistic development, and it hasn’t happened here yet. Therefore, you should work more on yourselves.[92458]From the Georgia Convention 11/06/12, Lesson 2

Question: Does a person who has transcended the general mind and acquired the attribute of love ever run out of desires?

Answer: No. They constantly grow. The desires are limitless, even for people who are not part of the integral system. I have spoken to many people who live in nature, Indians and also with Jane Goodall who lived 17 years among chimpanzees. Such people have a very clear and accurate feeling that the force of nature is love, bestowal, and a connection between all parts of creation. When a person merges with all this he feels a unique pleasure. This is found in nature. Nowadays science also begins to prove and to confirm the globalization and the integrality of the mutual connection of the world around us.

Question: Does such a person see a sea of desires in different people and with his “magic wand” just fills them all?

Answer: If he can connect to the desires of other people, he can help to fill them. He himself doesn’t have these desires and neither does he have what to fill them with, but he can help others.[92160]From KabTV’s “Talks with Michael Laitman,” 11/3/12

In the News (from CNET): “A year after Iceland asked its citizens to help write its new constitution by making suggestions via Facebook, voters decide this new draft should be the basis for the upcoming constitution. …

“In the wake of a crushing recession and raging protests, the government decided to rewrite its constitution and asked its citizens for help. Rather than requesting petitions, letters, or phone calls, the government asked people to help draft the new constitution through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr.

“Over the course of the year, Iceland’s citizens offered roughly 3,600 comments and 370 suggestions on the draft constitution, which was then drawn up by 25 members of a constitutional council, according to Reuters.

“Two-thirds of Iceland’s population is on Facebook, so during the drafting period the council’s weekly meetings were broadcast live on the council’s website, as well as on the social network. Citizens were able to make their own suggestions, engage in online debates, and follow the proceedings in real-time.”

“The bill’s prologue starts with the following words: ‘We, who inhabit Iceland, want to create a fair society, where everyone is equal. Our different origins enrich all of us as a whole and together we have the responsibility for the legacy of the generations, land and history, nature, language and culture.’

“The main themes which the Constitutional Council has observed during its work have been these three: Distribution of power, transparency and responsibility. …

“The Chapter on Human Rights has been revised and is now called Human Rights and Nature. The Principle of Equality is more detailed than in the present constitution and especially provides that all shall be granted the right to live with dignity. …

“Other new items in the Chapter on Human Rights and Nature are articles on Icelandic nature and environment and an article on resources, which states that resources not under private ownership are owned collectively and eternally by the people of Iceland.” Source

My Comment: If this is not accompanied by integral education, then we end up lagging in all the areas of life with an artificially closed society and dictatorship. I repeat, it is impossible to build anything artificially, meaning with an unprepared society. There will be success only if the scope of laws will be adapted to people, their capabilities, their level of requirements for themselves, and consciousness, instead of to unrealistic ideals.

Society should be equally developed; it should strive consciously for unity and equality. These properties must be instilled in people in advance. And only after that you can begin to implement the project. The ARI Institute offers the state of Iceland the method of integral education and upbringing and volunteers to provide any assistance in its implementation![92516]

Answer: All hermetic sciences are not real; they have no basis for them whatsoever, they’re just a figment of somebody’s imagination, a fantasy. Having my doctorate in Philosophy (the subject of my thesis is “Philosophy, Religion and Kabbalah”) gives me the right to state with confidence that Kabbalah is a pure science.

Because philosophy and any other of our attempts to understand reality are based not on research but solely on reason, which is really based on what is not known, as a rule, they are based on our egoism, but we do not realize it.

As a result, philosophy died a long time ago. All so-called spiritual teachings are gradually vanishing, since people rise above them and see that they are invalid. There are no substantiations or verifications concerning the seriousness of multiple spiritual teachings. They’re exclusively based upon our sensations, but as we all know, feelings can be very diverse; that’s why presently there are about 2800 religions and belief systems, and we see them gradually disappearing.

Kabbalah is not for or against them. It stands aside them; it explores nature as physics or any other regular science does. The major principle of Kabbalah is investigating nature, becoming similar to it, and winning. Kabbalah is a very concrete science; it doesn’t talk about the soul in the way religions do. A soul in Kabbalah signifies an extremely serious and profound attainment and understanding of the world in which we currently live. The purpose of this kind of realization is staying afloat and protecting ourselves from a huge storm that approaches us in response to our ignorance and unwillingness to follow the laws of nature.[92241]From the Georgia Convention, 11/5/12, Lesson 1

Question: What is the most incredible and fantastic desire we can have that will make other people exclaim “Wow!”?

Answer: We are capable of everything! We can be immortal, endless, omniscient, almighty, but only to the extent that we want to convey all of the above to others, rather than keeping everything to ourselves (for our “internal use”), meaning if we agree to turn into “transmitters.”

Comment: I went to school with a clever fellow who said that he wanted to be God. He stated that he wanted boundless pleasures that would expand with exponential acceleration. Does this kind of advancement really exist in this realm?

Answer: Of course, it does. However, there is no God the way people think of it today! The level that we achieve in the general governance is actually the level of God, the level of the Creator. Is it hard to be God? Maybe…, but it sure is possible.

Comment: This guy also mentioned that he would want to create “his own universe” with real people living in it…”

Answer: One actually is able to create one’s own universe; moreover, one can make an array of universes that are enclosed in each other. In the end, one will achieve a state of absolute revelation and fulfillment that is called “the world of Infinity” above which there are no desires. That’s where one has to stop! That’s it!

What will come next? We can’t answer this question, since the state of “Infinity” is beyond our limited boundaries. See, we still are talking about “the end”; all we can do is make the notion of “an end” a little broader, push it a little farther away. There is no such thing as “what’s next.” The categories of distance and limits simply disappear beyond these boundaries.[92154]From KabTV’s “Talks with Michael Laitman,” 11/3/12